SOBRE LOS LÍMITES DE LA BIOÉTICA LAICA

Abstract

Some authors sustain that one of the fundamental characteristics of bioethics has to be laicity. In the first part of the article I analyze what some of those authors define as “lay bioethics” and how religious discussions have to be considered in the public arena. I conclude that this concept is ambiguous and could be used to justify the public exclusion of those positions lay authors do not share. In the second part I refer to some ideas on the social utility of religion (Tocqueville) and on the great importance of freedom of thought and speech for democracy (Mill), because these ideas can contribute to define more precisely the place of religions in public debates on bioethics.